


caught

by audriel



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bounty Hunter and Wanted Criminals AU, Enemies to Allies to Lovers???, Karasuno and Nekoma mentioned, Kurodai Discord Secret Santa Exchange 2017, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Space AU, Unresolved Sexual Tension, science fiction AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 03:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13157994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/audriel/pseuds/audriel
Summary: Daichi was in deep trouble, but his savior was the last person he expected.





	caught

**Author's Note:**

  * For [captain_daichi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_daichi/gifts).



> Surprise! I’m your Secret Santa, Noemi! I picked the first on your list: Bounty Hunter Kuroo x Wanted Criminal Daichi. I’m not sure if this is what you have in mind but I hope you like it (though i feel like i bit more than i could chew, honestly when did i not?). This is my gift to you, not only for celebrating these wonderful holidays, but also for giving me and other kurodai fans a wonderful place for us to play and mingle together. XOXO, Audriel.
> 
> Apologies in advance for any medical/scientific inaccuracies and for the cursing lol.

A square of light suddenly appeared in the dark. Two shadowy figures carried a hunched figure between them who gave no resistance when they tossed him forward. The square of light was gone as soon as it appeared, plunging what appeared to be a small, cramped room into darkness. The figure remained unmoving save for the tremors wracking his body. Eventually the tremors stopped, the taut lines of the man slowly eased. With difficulty, he turned himself over to lay on his back. The action alone seemed to take a lot out of him, as seen from his heaving chest.

Daichi blearily opened his eyes. The darkness was much welcomed respite after spending inordinate time in that bright room. He slowly, carefully measured his breath, keeping his body relaxed in order to make the pain more manageable. They were methodical in their approach, confirming his suspicion that his captors were either professional or military. However, he had endured worse. It would take more than that to break him, and he suspected that they knew it.

He managed to glean enough information from those sessions, enough to know that they were fully aware who they had in their grasp and what information they sought from him, enough to know that they were smart and resourceful, enough to know that he was in deep trouble. Not only because of the people who captured him, but also the place where they kept him. He was no longer planetside. He was in blasted  _space_. 

If he was on a planet, mounting an escape plan (or in his team’s case, rescue plan) would not be difficult. Even with the high security level of the place, he was confident they would manage, but in space, it was another level of difficulty, and near impossible considering how his captors were capable of warp jump. It would be hell to run the calculation even with Tsukishima’s cybernetic brain. It also didn’t help that he destroyed everything on his person that could be traced back to his team. It was foolish, in hindsight, but he was not willing to take the risk considering the condition of his team. 

Daichi exhaled heavily, brow creasing in worry. The last he saw of them, Suga had started to regain the color on his face and Kinoshita’s moments of lucidity had grown longer and more frequent. Yamaguchi—who had taken on the role of team’s medic in Kinoshita’s stead—had stated in confidence that their condition had been stable enough for transport without risking a relapse. They had already been pushing it, staying for so long in such busy capital. They always took care to avoid capital cities and planets. While the number of activities and people made it easy to blend in among the sea of unfamiliar faces who came and went to try their fortune, the same reason made it more likely for them to be recognized with the easy access to information and the pervading presence of technology.

Their government had made their displeasure seen, to great lengths. Their faces were plastered on every screen and their crimes reported by every news outlet in the farthest reach of the galaxy. They were branded as cowards and traitors, painted as the lowest of the low, enormous bounty placed on their heads. They wanted to make an example out of them, making it near impossible for them to run and hide. But the Crows, the pride and joy of Karasuno military and government, who had managed to pull off miraculous feat after miraculous feat, managed to do the impossible. All twelve of them led their former employer on a merry chase, none sent their way came close to catching them... until now.

Daichi had turned the past events that led to his predicament over in his mind, and he came down to the same conclusion every time: they simply had rotten luck. They had made do like they always did. They had made the best decisions they could make. This was the best outcome in the face of overwhelming odds. He was caught, but only him. They were separated but they were all alive.

Their pursuers were actually good. They were a huge improvement from the last people sent their way. They had certainly learned from past failures. They knew that their best bet was in separating all of them, and they would have succeeded if Daichi hadn’t realized it and taken drastic measures to prevent it by having them focused on him instead. Asahi had been with him and completely against the idea, but they had run out of options. With two of them weak and vulnerable and the rest focused on protecting them, the Crows had been at great disadvantage. Between the two of them, Karasuno wanted their former captain and leader of the Crows more. It had been a plan that would only have worked if it had been him who had acted as bait and decoy. And fortunately, it had worked. He had received confirmation that his team— _his family_ —had gotten away safely before he had destroyed his comms.

He never failed to remind himself of this every single day in this hellhole. He drew strength that so long there was life there was hope. However, it was getting more and more difficult. He tried to find any weakness to take advantage of, but he had yet to find any. He was worn down to the bone after every session that he could barely stay awake long enough to make concrete plans. He barely ate and drank since he couldn’t trust the food and water given to him. He noticed they were ramping up the intensity of their sessions, but also that they remained physical. They hadn’t taken chemical or biological route, but he was certain that they were capable of it. The possibility alone terrified him, because there were no defenses he could prepare for it. He needed to escape  _fast_. He knew that, he believed the urgency in his gut, but his mind kept going in circles, unable to come up with feasible plan. He was also feeling lightheaded, in the verge of fainting, due to a mixture of hunger, thirst, pain and fatigue.

He was completely, utterly  _fucked_.

He tried to think of the slightest possibility, to hold on to the sliver of hope, just to keep despair and hopelessness at bay, but it kept slipping out of his grasp. 

In the midst of his anxiety and frustration, Daichi was not prepared for the bright light that seared his eyes, forcing his eyes closed in instinct. But it was gone as soon as it appeared, making him wonder whether he was starting to lose his mind. However, his skin prickled in unease. He couldn’t see much in the dark, but... he had a feeling he was no longer alone. This was new. None of his guards had ever crossed the threshold of his cell. They always stopped right before the door before depositing him like he was no better than trash. His hands clenched at his sides tightly, his body tensed in the unexpected development. He cursed the weakness of his body, he could barely lift himself, let alone fight.

“Oh my. Did I get into the wrong room?”

Daichi  _knew_  that voice. He must be hallucinating, but why here and now? Why  _him_  of all people? That made no sense.

“ _Black Cat_?” His voice was barely audible, but it was loud in the silence. He saw something moving in the darkness, but the first thing he saw was lone golden eye that he could recognize anywhere, stunning him speechless.

“Oh hello. I didn’t see you down there.” The bounty hunter squatted next to him while Daichi could only look on incredulously. The other man was clad from head to toe in his usual skintight black gear and hood, leaving only the eye not covered by his hair and mask. He could be easily mistaken having materialized from the shadows.

“What- How-  _Why_  are you here?” Of all people, the bounty hunter that had become the bane of his team was the last person he expected to be here, in the cell of highly secured space prison.

“Heard that you got yourself captured. Gotta check for myself.” The Cat had the gall to lean his face against his propped hand, looking down at him. “Tsk, tsk. You disappoint me, Captain.”

“ _Fuck_.  _you_.” Daichi was not prone to much cursing, but the Cat brought the worst out of him, had always been since their first encounter. Many groups went after their team after they were declared as wanted criminal, from the armed forces of the allies of Karasuno to hired professionals from the dark underbelly of the galaxy. None gave the team as much trouble as the Black Cat. He was one of the few independent parties that went after their team, but the only one who was close to capturing them,  _had_  captured few of their members actually, though they managed to get them free. He was also annoyingly persistent, not deterred by his failures. 

“Ah there it is. Glad you still have your claws.” The hunter sounded far too smug. “To answer your question, I’m here to bust you out of here.” Before Daichi could say anything, he kept going.

“Now, do you trust me?”   

Daichi couldn’t help looking like the Cat has grown two heads at the question, but it was enough of a distraction that he didn’t react fast enough when the hunter jabbed something into his neck.

“That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.” The Cat said lightly as though he was merely commenting the weather. 

“What the fuck did you do?” Daichi growled, hand darting out to seize him by the neck, only to end up staring at his hand, the hand that he could barely move not a moment before. The Cat simply raised his eyebrow, completely unfazed that he could have been easily strangled.

“Adrenaline.” Daichi let go, looking at his hand in wonder. Emboldened, he raised himself up into sitting position, finding that not only he was regaining his strength, but also his reflexes.

“Why would you do that?” Daichi could meet the other’s eye with no difficulty in this position.

“I doubt you want to be carried around. That, and I need another hand to get out of here.” Daichi’s eyebrows flew up in surprise.

“You’re on your own?”

“Have you  _seen_ the security in this place?” Daichi saw the truth in his words, it was easier for a lone man to get through such iron-clad security undetected, but from what he knew of the Cat, he suspected that he was not willing to put his team at risk. Though it brought up the question why the Cat took such risk for the man he was supposed to capture and turn over for bounty.

“Unless you think your team have better chances.” The Cat wiggled his eyebrow, which pulled involuntary snort out of Daichi. Stealth and infiltration were definitely  _not_  his team’s strength. His team was a strike team. They were meant to strike fast and hard. Living on the run did improve their skills, and surprise was still their middle name, but the Cat was in another league altogether. The evidence was right in front of him. He managed to enter his cell and no guards had come running. The realization lighted a spark inside him. Between the two of them, escape would not be impossible. Deciding not to look a gift horse in mouth, Daichi determinedly looked to the hunter, to his enemy-turned-ally even only for this one time.

“What’s the plan?” He would have thought the Cat would be smug at his show of deference, but there was only a flicker of pleasant surprise, replaced with something akin to genuine appreciation, which oddly made Daichi warm all over. In a fluid motion, the Cat stood up to his full height, followed by Daichi.

“We’re currently in the prisoners’ block. You might realize by now that it is completely isolated from the rest of the prison.” Daichi nodded in acknowledgment. He never saw the prison guards and staff came and left. He surmised it was designed to make it difficult to escape from. “The prison also doesn’t have their own hangar, but they have escape pods.”

“And let me guess, they are right in the middle of the command center.” But it made sense, from tactical viewpoint, it added another layer of difficulty for prisoners to escape.

“Bingo.”

“Of course.” Daichi dryly noted. It rather explained the adrenaline shot. That reminded him, “How long would the adrenaline last?”

“Thirty minutes, give or take.” That was quite a generous dose, but there was also underlying challenge from the glint of the golden eye enough to send his blood boiling. 

“Thirty minutes will be more than enough.” Daichi accepted the challenge. Only as they moved towards the door it occurred to him that he was ill-equipped for their escape, especially in comparison to fully-geared hunter. He was stripped down to his undershirt and cargo pants upon capture and they barely provided any protection against the temperature, let alone against any weapons the guards had. “Got a weapon for me?”

“I’m nice, but I’m not  _that_  nice.” It was a casual throwback to one of their most frequent topics of argument whenever they exchanged blows with the Cat assuring that he was actually nice and Daichi refuting that claim throughout, but even as he said so he pulled out one of his serrated knives and flipped it over so the end was offered to Daichi. 

“Don’t cut yourself on it.” Despite the teasing remark and casual manner, the Cat’s gaze was heavy and intent.

“Never dreamed of it.” Daichi recognized the gesture of faith as it was. He held the other’s gaze as he slowly wrapped his fingers around the knife, not looking away even as their fingers brushed and the knife was already in his possession. He didn’t know how long they were looking at each other, but he didn’t miss the way the Cat’s features softened and the way his heart sped up at the sight. He felt there was something more exchanged between them, but he had no idea what it was. Before he could make heads or tails of it, the door slid open. Now the amber eye held the familiar sly, mischievous look.

“Keep up, Captain.” Without warning, the Cat disappeared from sight. It was only because he was used to the hunter’s speed that he could easily follow his movements. Without thinking he propelled himself forward with all his might, giving chase to the shadow, determined not to lag behind. In the back of his mind, he noted how the roles had switched: the pursued became the pursuer, the pursuer became the pursued.

The Cat weaved his way through the labyrinth that was the prison with the ease and grace he had come to associate him with. Daichi made sure to take the exact path he traversed and never more than a step behind him. Inwardly he marveled how they managed not to trip any of the alarms. He knew whoever Black Cat had in his team as his hacker was  _good_ , but being able to guide him through what likely to be highly confidential and secured space base-slash-prison was no cakewalk. No less impressive was the way the Cat effortlessly absorbed the information given to him as though it was part of his own thought process and successfully applied the knowledge without delay or hesitation, it was no wonder that everyone who had heard of Black Cat and his reputation thought he was only one man. 

They finally reached a door, taking position opposite of each other, flattening themselves against the wall right next to it. The Cat met his gaze across the door, giving a sharp nod that this was the door to the command center, which would be heavily guarded and occupied. Confrontation would be inevitable. At the thought, he gripped the knife tighter, but returned the nod with his own.

The Cat seemed to wait for something before the door hissed open. He made a cursory glance around before he stepped inside. Picking up the hunter’s wariness, Daichi was immediately on alert. The Cat tilted his head towards one direction and Daichi was quick to follow. They were more careful now, stopping at intersections and hiding in the corners... until they couldn’t.

“Intruder!” They had avoided one patrolling guards only to run into another. It seemed finally their luck ran out.

“Alert command!” The man who appeared to be the leader ordered one of his men who reacted quickly, activating the comms in his ear.

“Command-” Before he could make any report, a knife was embedded in his chest, cutting him off. At the sight of their fallen comrade, the guards opened fire. Daichi ducked and kept himself moving in order to avoid getting hit, but the Cat charged ahead, successfully turning their attention to him. It seemed within moments he had closed the distance between them and before they could react the Cat took out two of them. Before the two guards had even fallen, he already moved to the rest of them, slipping low under their guard. They were so taken aback that it didn’t occur to them to spread out and keep their distance. By not doing so they made it difficult for themselves to point and shoot in fear of hitting each other, which was the Cat’s aim.

This was the other reason why people easily bought the idea that Black Cat was working alone. He was fast and agile, with mastery in multitude weapons and fighting styles. He was calm and patient that he was not easily baited and taken by other’s pace. He was also cunning and observant, with sharp mind and keen instincts that kept him ahead of his opponents. He managed to soundly beat Asahi on one-on-one, who was the Crow’s best fighter, and took down Noya who came to Asahi’s aid, by taking advantage of his surroundings. It was not that the Cat was particularly strong, but he was the kind of opponent that the Crows were badly matched against. Of all the Crows, he was the only one who could fight Black Cat on his own.

Not wanting to let the Cat to all the work, not to mention the mocking that would follow, Daichi used the distraction the hunter provided to get close to one of the guards. Keeping his blaster down and his finger off the trigger, Daichi knocked the guard out with an elbow to the head. With blaster on hand, he made a quick work of the rest of the guards, leaving only the two of them standing.

“They heard the commotion. Take what you need.” Daichi didn’t need to be told, he fell to his knees and started stripping the guard of his gear. He caught the Cat standing guard in his peripherals, so he pulled the tactical vest over his head, pocketing the most useful ones in record time in order not to stay any longer than necessary. 

“Let’s go.” In response, the Cat started running, Daichi not far behind.

“They found the guards.” Right on cue, alarm blared throughout the hallways.

_“Intruder on base. Intruder on base. Activate code Blue. Repeat. Activate code Blue.”_

Daichi threw a questioning glance at the Cat who directed his gaze at the closing doors between hallways. 

“Shit,” Daichi cursed loudly.

“We need to turn at that corner and get to the second hallway.” They put a burst of speed, not looking back even at the sounds of approaching footsteps. They barely made it to the second hallway, slipping through the small opening left by the closing doors. It was a dead end.

“Give me a lift.” As he approached the hunter and followed his line of sight, he realized what was their aim: the vents. Daichi slung the blaster over his shoulder and was about to form a foothold for the other only for the Cat to launch on top of him and sit on his shoulders, almost taking him by surprise.

“Are you a cat or a monkey?” Daichi couldn’t quite hide his annoyance being the designated stool although he kept himself steady so the Cat could pry open the vents.

“Who’s to say I’m not both?” He did his best to hold on his annoyance, lest he was distracted by the long, lean legs around his head and on his shoulders. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the Cat pulled himself up into the vents after managing to remove the cover and stuck out the hand Daichi looked on dubiously.

“Come on. I’ll pull you up.” The Cat sounded amused, as though he knew what he was thinking. Not wanting to prove him right, Daichi leaped up, only to find his hand seized in strong grip and pulled into the vents easily.

“Put the cover back, we’re going this way.” This time he detected the smug tone in his voice for admittedly impressive feat. He might have lost some weight but he was not light by any means. Of course, he would not give the hunter the satisfaction that he was right. They crawled through the small, cramped space that was obviously not meant for two grown men while trying to move fast without making a sound.

Daichi didn’t know how long they were crawling, his joints and limbs felt stiff and uncomfortable, until the Cat stopped in front of him.

“...They’re expecting us.”

“So no getting around them?”

“No. It did narrow our options though.” Daichi was not deceived by the lightness of his tone. The Cat’s lone eye glinted in the darkness. “Any preference for making our entrance?” Daichi didn’t need to think long and hard what kind of entrance he’d like to make.

“Like a civilized person, and with a bang.”

“Ooh, I like the way you think.” the Cat purred. 

Not long afterwards they were found standing before the last obstacle standing between them and freedom, counting down the second. Daichi watched in morbid fascination as the door blasted inwards, catching the armed men waiting behind it completely unawares. Daichi and the Cat exchanged a brief look before throwing themselves into the fray, with the Cat leading the charge and Daichi covering his back from the distance with the blaster. It was not a familiar position to him. He was usually at the front of his team, taking the lead and opening the path for them. He had given the cover fire for his team when it was the best course of action. Regardless, it was quite a novel experience giving it for the bounty hunter that gave his team so much trouble and a challenge of and in itself because it was hard for Daichi not to look away.

Daichi never got to truly observe (and appreciate) the hunter in the middle of the fight, because it was usually against him or his team. Now that they were temporarily on the same side, he had the opportunity to do so. Black Cat... was really something. His style was nothing like the military style he was trained in, all about brutal and efficient moves, taking down the opponent fast and hard. Simple and rudimentary, if he was to sum Karasuno’s fighting style. His team stood out because they were capable of mixing them up while making them their own. The Cat was actually similar in that regard, but instead of mixing up standard moves, he was mixing up  _different fighting styles,_ not to mention he always changed it to match his opponent. He had suspected it but to have it confirmed raised his respect and admiration to the hunter another notch. Then there was the way he moved, so easy and smooth, confident and graceful. There was no wasted movement, no split-second hesitation.

He was poetry in motion.

He was  _beautiful_.

Daichi nearly tripped over his own feet and got himself killed at the abrupt, unwelcomed thought. He could have his existential crisis later for getting attracted to a man who was supposed to be the enemy, not to mention whom he didn’t know what his face even looked like. Right now, he needed to get out of this prison alive, preferably before the adrenaline ran out. He ducked when he saw movement at the corner of his eyes, but had his blaster shot out of his hands, making him curse loudly.

Daichi made his way towards the Cat. At the questioning glance, he answered. “Sniper!”

“Fuck.” Daichi agreed with the sentiment wholeheartedly. “Back to back.” It seemed they came to the same conclusion, putting their backs against each other to give complete view of their surroundings and eliminate their blind spot. The Cat might have additional eyes, but they didn’t come with hands.

He thought it would be strange and awkward, fighting with instead of against each other. However, the familiarity transferred well to fighting together in such close proximity. He knew when and how to give the other the support he needed, from giving the space to move to becoming a decoy for him. So was the other way around. It was both terrifying and exhilarating how in sync they were. It was something he only achieved with Suga and Asahi who had been with him since the Academy. Together, they made quick work of the prison guards, clearing the path to the transportation chamber where escape pods were.

Riding on the high of the amazing teamwork, he forgot to keep track of the time. Daichi realized a moment too late that the adrenaline effect had worn off when he failed to evade the incoming blaster shot, hitting him on the side. The vest protected him, but it didn’t mean it didn’t _hurt_ , especially on the side that had been tender.

“Well, it looks like I end up carrying you anyway.”

Before he could protest, Daichi was thrown over broad shoulder and blinked stupidly as the Cat made a mad dash to the transportation chamber. He slipped under the door before it closed shut. However, their combined momentum made for a rough landing as they turned into a mess of tangled limbs on the floor.

“Owww, you’re pretty heavy, Captain.” The Cat groaned underneath Daichi.

“And you’re pretty bony, Cat.” Daichi managed to retort despite the returning pain and fatigue.

“As much as I’d like to lay down and catch my breath... that door’s not gonna hold.” At the Cat’s words, Daichi could see through the glass opening the guards trying to open the door. It was a matter of time before they used force. Out of sheer willpower, he managed to push himself up and would have face planted on the floor if not for firm hand holding him up.

“Let’s get you into the pod.” The Cat’s touch was surprisingly gentle and grounding that Daichi couldn’t find it in himself to be embarrassed to lean on him as they made their way to one of the pods. The pods were more like small spacecrafts, which was reasonable considering that they were the only available means of transport. The Cat seated him on the pilot’s seat, activating the display to put in coordinates into navigation. Daichi frowned at the coordinates. It was in Alpha Quadrant, which was only two jumps away from the planet they had been in.

“Your team was given the same coordinates.” The Cat answered the unspoken question as he fastened the seat belt on him. “They will be in position to pick you up.”

It took Daichi a while to register that he said you instead of we.

“Wha-wait! Aren’t you coming?” In his panic, he managed to grab the Cat’s wrist.

“Someone needs to make sure they cannot follow us. And that someone is definitely not you.” The hunter removed his hand from his wrist. Daichi chalked it up to his imagination the gentleness and hesitation in that gesture.

“What do I owe you?” Daichi found himself asking. “You did not answer my question. Why you were doing this? What do you want from me?” He didn’t know why he was questioning the Cat. For all he knew, the Cat was doing it out of the goodness of his heart and he would be the one putting the idea of debt in his head by raising the issue. But he wanted to know why the other man went to such lengths for him.

The Cat turned his golden gaze upon him.

“What I want, Captain? Do you  _really_  want to know what I want?” The intensity in his eye made his breath catch, but Daichi held his gaze nonetheless, raising his chin defiantly.

“Yes.” 

He found himself unconsciously holding his breath when the Cat slowly leaned down that there was nary a distance between their faces, that his covered mouth was next to his ear.

“Don’t get caught by anyone else but me.”

Daichi couldn’t help the shiver not only at the quiet demand, but also at the sound of his voice and the whisper of his breath on his skin. He didn’t realize he had closed his eyes only to find the Cat was already walking down the ramp back to the chamber when he opened his eyes. The Cat stopped at the threshold between the pod and the chamber, turning his head slightly to look at him.

“I’ll get that knife back, Sawamura.”

His tall, broad back was the last thing Daichi saw before the door slammed shut. Before he could say or do anything, he was launched into space, trying but failing to get a glimpse of the hunter. Remembering his parting words, his hand went to the sheathed knife now burning a brand against his leg, taking comfort that this would not be the last they saw of each other.

Next time... probably they would no longer be enemies.

**Author's Note:**

> Some random headcanons I have for this AU:  
> -Karasuno is the planet Daichi and co. was born and raised and later served as soldiers  
> -The Crows is Karasuno's best strike team, and often sent to the front lines for war which finally wore on them, esp on their conscience, leading to them turning their backs on Karasuno and became fugitives  
> -Suga catches an alien strain of flu, which infects Kinoshita who treats him. While the Crows can easily access all the information to give the right treatment, they still cannot make the medicine from scratch, so going to the capital it is  
> -Tsukishima is part Cyborg and Yamaguchi is a sniper  
> -Kuroo has cybernetic eye, the one hidden behind his hair which is connected to Kenma  
> -Black Cat is actually Nekoma with Kuroo as their front/visible figure  
> -The Cats actually have similar background with the Crows, that's why they sympathize with the wanted criminals and kept chasing after them to keep others off the Crows back  
> -The chase has become sort of game between them actually, but ofc only some of them realize that
> 
> Please drop by to my [tumblr](http://audriel.tumblr.com), especially if you're a kurodai fan. We're trying to take over the world you see, and we're in need more of us. XD


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